Health & Social Care

Much of Wren’s recent work has been in developing projects and programmes to help adults in vulnerable or difficult circumstances, whether in the community or in residential settings.

There are many research studies that show the therapeutic value of music and group participation in music and song, and Wren’s work is a living testament of that value. We have seen our group members grow in confidence and become more outgoing and generally happier by taking part in shared group music-making.

Wren is always developing new ideas to help people with health conditions or who find themselves in vulnerable circumstances. An example currently under development is a ‘Respiratory Choir’ that will help people with breathing difficulties to improve through singing. This is singing on prescription for people with respiratory problems. This group is referral only, and the techniques build on what we do in all our choirs. Watch this space for details .....

- Northam Lodge

Northam Lodge is a charity based in Bideford offering services to people with profound and multiple learning and physical disabilities. It aims to help people with disabilities achieve the best quality of life, choice and independence through the provision of the necessary care, support and development.

Wren first began working with Northam Lodge as part of a project funded by the Arts Council direct to Northam Lodge via a Grants for the Arts bid to promote music provision within the setting and to train Northam Lodge staff to use more music in their day-to-day activities. After a year of the project funding, Northam Lodge elected to continue the regular Wren Music sessions, now paid for directly by the setting. Wren undertakes music sessions every Thursday morning throughout the year with both the day clients and the residential service users. See video (on right) on Northam Lodge page ....

What Northam Lodge says about the Wren Music Sessions:

"The project has been brilliant; it has made a massive difference and we’ve had great feedback. We’ve seen such a change in people because they can now take part in music, it is inclusive. It’s just wonderful, seeing their confidence grow. And it has also increased the confidence of staff, to know that they are able to help our clients to make music.” Carron Holmes, Music Project Manager

“What Wren has brought to the project is their musical expertise. They have helped us to deliver a structured programme which has enabled people to develop skills, and this can often be difficult because of their cognitive abilities. Because of the professional training they are getting from Wren, Northam Lodge staff are able to deliver music sessions that are moving people forward. The groups have been really vibrant, consistently well-attended and with an enormous amount of energy. Because of Wren coming in, staff are then able to give lessons and clients are more keen to give it a go. This project fits in completely with an exciting, person-centred service. I’ve seen this energy, you can feel and hear it, and it’s made us think about how we deliver our services.” Charlie Dixon, Northam Lodge Chief Executive

Make Music with Wren

Wren has developed a programme of work for adults called Make Music with Wren. The local Creative Therapy Team identified the benefits of our Make Music groups:

Social networks: The group allows people who are struggling with their own feelings of self worth to have a level of social interaction which is not dependent on their ability to 'chat'.

Social capital: People are in the group often because they want to meet other people and have problems doing so, but regardless of cognitive ability, physical ability, nationality, age or any other differences, can interact through music on an equal basis.
Respect and positive attitudes: There is no stigma in taking part, people will be there to make music and have fun.

Video on the 2017 December finale of the Make Music, Make a Change project here

Example Projects:

- The Song Scrapbook

The Song Scrapbook combined reminiscence and memory with group singing and musical activities in a residential care home in Okehampton. It was delivered by Wren Music, funded by the Big Lottery, as part of their Awards for All funding stream, and we worked in partnership with Stonehaven Care Group, which runs the care home.

The project was designed to improve the quality of life for the residents, raise morale for staff and to illustrate the benefits of this type of project to others. Two music leaders worked on the project to engage the residents and staff of the homes, along with a fantastic pool of volunteers, both from Wren Music, and from Kent House, the home in which we worked.

The project progression was as follows:

Collecting musical memories from the residents through interactive music sessions over six visits.

Alongside the musical memories we found as much other contextual information as we could from the residents themselves; information about where they lived, what jobs they did, where they remembered the music from (did they sing it? Listen to it live or on the radio? Who sang it? etc.)

We sourced information and material from families, such as photos or other memorabilia.

We also found other contextual information, such as information about famous singers, concert posters etc.

The songs chosen were arranged for group singing, with lyrics and chords written down, and the residents, staff and volunteers formed a group to learn and sing the songs over a further six visits.

There was a special finale event open to the local community, family and friends at Christmas 2016.

The contextual information, and transcripts of the songs were made into a real scrapbook for display at the home and are also available in a digital format.

The songs were recorded for the staff to use as accompaniment after the end of the project. The knowledge gained and resources created were shared as part of various training events, and the final PDFs and audio of the scrapbook is now made available on the Wren website – click here for the full Report.

On the 15th June Okehampton charity Wren Music will start a series of five free weekly music-making workshops for adults. They will be held on Thursday mornings, 10.00am to 12.00pm, at the Ockment Centre, North Street, Okehampton EX20 1AR.

These Make Music sessions have been specially designed to appeal to people of all abilities and all ages from sixteen upward and will bring together people from all parts of Okehampton’s community. Professional musicians Jon Dyer and Dave Rich will lead the group.

Jon says, “We always like to have a lot of fun. We’ll do lots of playing, making bands, singing songs and even writing new ones. We will be playing repertoire from local folk anthologies, Sabine Baring-Gould and Cecil Sharp.”

“At the weekly sessions we will provide a wide variety of musical instruments for people to use, including guitars, fiddles, squeeze boxes and drums etc. No previous musical experience is necessary for you to join in. You just need some enthusiasm and a willingness to have a go. If you have your own instrument you can bring that along too.”